Tour de Suisse stage 5 wrap-up

Home win for first year pro; Vicioso now in yellow

Steve Morabito got his young pro career off to a perfect start today
when the 23 year-old Phonak rider won the first mountain stage of the
Tour de Suisse.

The former VC Mendrisio PL Valli amateur got his contract thanks in part
to his eighth place in the under 23 world championships last autumn, but
today he eclipsed that result with a stage win in the prestigious ProTour
event. He went clear with five others after just under 50 kilometres of
racing, and then 180-odd kilometres later, comfortably beat Jurgen van
Goolen (Discovery Channel) to the line.

Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile team led the chase on the final climb but it was
yesterday's stage winner Angel Vicioso who was first home from the front
group, crossing the line 14 seconds behind Morabito and just two behind
a fading Van Goolen. He consequently took over at the top of the general
classification, with overnight leader Nick Nuyens having fallen off the
pace 11 kilometres from the line and ending the day over 13 minutes down.

The driving by the T-Mobile riders led to expectations of a Jan Ullrich
attack but he finished just behind Koldo Gil Perez (Saunier Duval) and
Paolo Bettini (Quick.Step) in sixth place. The German's climbing form
has nevertheless clearly progressed since the Giro d'Italia and is now
seventh overall, 16 seconds off the lead.

Gerolsteiner satisfied

After stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse, Gerolsteiner finished with its
two main men in the from part of the peloton: Beat Zberg (15th at 22 seconds)
and Georg Totschnig (19th at 26 seconds). That moved Zberg and Totschnig
up to 8th and 16th respectively on the general classification.

"The finale turned out as expected," said team boss Hans-Michael Holczer.
"I had hoped that Beat and Georg would be with the group. And they were.
Therefore I can say that it was all good."

Of tomorrow's tough stage, Holczer commented, "There the general classification
will be mixed up again. And of course we want to be in it."

Still another week and a half off for Petacchi

Alessandro Petacchi's broken left kneecap is healing well, but it will
be another 10 days before he can get back on the bike again. Petacchi
broke it in a crash during stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia on May 8, and
has not been able to ride since. But on Wednesday afternoon in the San
Rossore clinic in Pisa, an examination of his knee revealed that the bone
had regrown enough for him to commence physiotherapy on it, as well as
electrostimulation to regain the muscle tone. He will still have to wear
a protective covering on it when he walks, but he is expected to be able
to ride again in a week and a half.

"Finally I can take this guard off, even if I will continue to carry
it when I walk," said a relieved Petacchi. "At the moment, I can only
manage to bend the knee 30 degrees, and the physiotherapist should be
able to give me back full mobility by the end of the week. It goes without
saying that I can't climb on my bike now. I know that in the coming days
I will suffer a lot to be able to bend the knee to 45 degrees, and the
absence of muscle will not make this task easy. I will start from zero,
but I have so much desire that I should take care not to do too much at
the beginning in order not to lengthen my recovery time."

Vuelta organisers must pay damages to Dietzen

In 1989, Reimund Dietzen was riding the Vuelta a España as captain for
the Spanish Teka team, and had even won a stage. However, in the 13th
stage, he rode into a tunnel which was not illuminated and crashed, suffering
career-ending injuries. Dietzen is now a directeur sportif with Team Gerolsteiner.
On Wednesday, 17 years after the accident, Spain's highest court, La Sala
de lo Civil del Tribunal Supremo, has ordered the Vuelta's organizers
to pay him 481,927 Euros in damages.

The court ruled that there was no evidence that the crash was caused
by the rider's negligence or by a third party. Further, Unipublic, which
is responsible for the Vuelta, must assume the responsibility, because
it is the one who organizes the race and so commits itself to adopt measures
for the riders's safety, according to the court.

Baby Giro and Giro Femminile under threat

Four days from the conclusion of the Giro d'Italia for U26 and U23 riders
and two weeks out from the start of the Giro d'Italia Femminile, organisers
Egidio Event issued a dire plea: "Il Giro Under 26 e Giro Donne rischiano
di morire" (the Giro d'Italia U26 and Women's Giro risks dying).

Mario Poli, executive general manager of Egidio Event, was responsible
for launching the public SOS. "We come to the fore because of the seriousness
[of the situation] with which we are faced," said Poli. "However, we maintain
our promises to all: we will act - like always - with maximum responsibility.

"But we cannot hide our will to supply a [greater financial] contribution
to cycling, yet we are in a 'bloodbath' financially. It is true: the technicalities
did not allow a [potential] title sponsor after the budgets were closed,
but it is equally true the media, and that of television in particular,
should have offered greater [financial] consideration.

"If this situation continues till the Women's Giro, there can only be
damaging consequences," Poli concluded.

Lampre-Fondital to Eindhoven

Lampre-Fondital has chosen the eight riders who will represent it in
the Eindhoven Team Time Trial, a ProTour event on June 18. Sports director
Giuseppe Martinelli has named Matteo Bono, Marzio Bruseghin, Claudio Corioni,
Matteo Carrara, Enrico Franzoi, Marco Marzano, Danilo Napolitano and Morris
Possoni for the squad.

"This race is scheduled in a period during which we're racing the Tour
of Suisse and some cyclists are preparing for the Tour de France," said
Martinelli ."So I choose a young team, that could use this event in order
to gain experience: some of our athletes will race this kind of race for
the first time in their careers, but they could learn a lot from Marzio
Bruseghin."

Wiesenhof-Akud for La Route du Sud

Team Wiesenhof-Akud is sending a "mixed team" to La Route du Sud in
the south of France (June 15-18). The team notes that the four-stage race
has "something for everyone: a flat stage, a hilly stage, a mountain time
trial and a mountaintop finish." Therefore the Germans will send a team
with two sprinters and three climbers. In addition, Tomas Konecny will
return to racing after a long injury pause.

Chirio in Alto Adige

Italian women's squad USC Chirio Forno d'Asolo will take part in the
Giro del Trentino Alto Adige between June 15-17. Although the team will
be without Vera Carrara, who is suffering from the 'flu, the presence
of Ukrainian Tatiana Stiajkina and Belarusian Tatsiana Sharakova should
be enough to net a few results. A recent arrival to USC Chirio, Stiajkina
won a race in France last Sunday, while Sharakova has been showing consistently
good condition of late.

The rest of the team directed by Luisiana Pegoraro is composed of Eleonora
Soldo, Gessica Turato. Sabrina Zogli, Uenia Fernandes and Lorenza Morfin.